Written by: Una, Addy, Gabe, Kate

Thursday, it rained. We woke up this morning bright and early (7am) to clean up the dorms for the next group arriving on Sunday. We also cleaned up the lab, and all of the borrowed supplies was returned to Friday Harbor Labs. As this was happening our posters were in the process of being printed.

We were all very excited to see our posters, but we were even more excited that we were allowed into town for lunch. When we returned it was time to write thank you letters to all the scientists we worked with and all of the Salish Sea Sciences team members.

Finally we started preparing for the evening by setting the tables and chairs for dinner, as well as grabbing everything we would need for our presentations. by 4pm we were headed to the Whale Museum!

We set up at the Museum and spirits were high. Then the madness began, we all had so much fun presenting our posters and answering questions about all the work we’ve done in the past 4 weeks. Eventually the showcase had to end, and we walked back up to the dorms with our families and other guests in tow. Caroline and Adam shared some kind words and Tom had prepared us a wonderful barbecue dinner.

And that’s the end… guests have gone and most students are hanging out in dorms for the last night and we’ll be gone tomorrow morning. Thank you Salish Sea Sciences, toodles!

By Matthew

We woke up at 7:30 today, and after that, we worked on our project for the last three hours with Adam and Ani’s help. At about 11, we talked with Caroline and Tom about our project, and we showed them our posters.

After we arrived at Eagle’s Cove, everyone had lunch that they made earlier. And then some of us went to play soccer while the other ones went swimming. The water is as cold as usual, but the tide pools are warm, so some of us went to lie in the tide pools after swimming.

After a long time of swimming and soccer, Adam and some others wrote the words Salish Sea Sciences 2026 on the beach, and then we took a group photo at Eagle Cove.

After the swim, we took a quick shower. We left for Friday Harbor Lab right after that. We also went into the Friday Harbor Lab store. After that, we listened to Dr. Will Ballentine’s presentation about barnacle larvae, their spines on their body, and how they swim in the water. The presentation was very interesting, and we all enjoyed it. After the presentation, we took another group photo at the bench close to the lab; the view was beautiful.

After we went back to the dorm, we had a wonderful pizza dinner. And we had a lot of fun hanging out on the second-to-last day. And this is the end of the day.

Blog Credits: Aoife, Violet

This morning was peaceful and warm, perfect conditions to make significant progress on our posters, which are due tomorrow. It’s crazy to think that we’re almost finished with our projects, which have been such a big part of life here at Salish Sea!

Everyone is deep into their respective projects, and it is incredibly satisfying to see it all come together. From macro-plastic surveys, to tests on barnacle respiration, there is so much being done!

Lunchtime brought a much needed break—and a sweaty hike up Young Hill to eat, play cards, and toss around a football (courtesy of Ethan). As the name implies, the hike down was much easier than the hike up.

Once we returned to the dorms, it was back to our projects as we began the homestretch. Many people finished up their posters, and others still have progress to make before the deadline tomorrow. While there is no dinner guest tonight, we’re having spaghetti, and that is almost as exciting!

By: Addie and Eva

Today was the last day of data collection. Salish Sea Sciences got up, grabbed their boots, and headed out the door to various places for low tides. The team was split between 4th of July beach, False Bay, and Deadman’s.

After the people in the field got back we wrapped up our last bit of data collection just in time for lunch. Lunch was a great break in the day to reset and maybe take a quick power nap. Once lunch had finished it was time to say goodbye to the animals we had been testing for the past week. As sad as we were about letting them go, they had gone through enough poking and proding.

After the animals were set back home it was back to projects but now we were creating our posters.

For a quick break some people went out and played badminton. As this is being written the dinner crew is playing great tunes and having a dance battle. Spirits are currently high, and there going to be through the roof because at 6:00 PM we will be going to JP’s for trivia night!!!

by Kate, Una, Gabe, and Addy

Today was another productive day working on data collection for our independent research projects, whether it was out in the field or in our own shells at the lab. For Silas, Eva, Gabe, Maxene, Violet, and Una, it was another early morning in the fields. The rest of us got to sleep in (8:00 AM) before we all worked on our respective projects.

Currently, most students’ projects are producing some fascinating results. Everyone is shelled up in their lab stations and working hard to collect data. Some students have even began to work on their final posters. Tomorrow will be the last day for data collection in the fields. Next, we headed over to meet with Chas Lawson, the farm production manager at Wescott Bay Shellfish Farm.

Later today, Dr. Rebecca Varney will be joining us for dinner! She specializes in studying eukaryotic extremophiles in both freshwater and marine systems. Extremophiles are any kind of life that specializes in extremely hostile environments. Such as tube worms that filter chemicals from deep sea vents.

For some of us, it was another early morning. Maxene, Wesley, Gabe, Matthew, and Sam went to various field sites to collect more data for their projects. The rest of us enjoyed sleeping in a little bit (7:45 am).

At this point, most students’ projects are coming together and we are seeing some interesting results. Nonetheless, tomorrow will be another early morning out in the field for those less fortunate. Next, we were informed we would watch a harbor seal necropsy.

The seal pup was just about one week old, and the cause of death was somewhat unknown, but it was suspected to have been separated from its mother in some way.

Blog Credits: Kashi, Olivia, Silas, Maxene

Blog Credits: Cynthia

Today was project continuation day. Some people had completed data and animal collection, while others still needed to go into the field. The wake-up time today was 6 am, and spirits were quite low. The group that needed to go out into the field went to two separate locations, 4th of July Beach and Deadmans. The group of people going to Deadmans included Maxeme, Ripley, and Wesley, while the group that went to 4th of July included Cynthia, Matthew, Sam, Addy, Silas, and Gabe.

Sam and Cynthia had trouble finding the right type of clams for their experiments, and Silas and Gabe had trouble getting data. Even though the disappointment was high at the 4th of July beach, Silas and Gabe found a very cool dead octopus and had a good time with Adam!

During the time that the students were in the field, the students who didn’t go were in the little lab conducting their own individual experiments.

Once Cynthia and Sam knew they were not going to be able to find the clam types they were looking for, they called Caroline, and she picked up Addy, Sam, Matthew, and Cynthia, all of whom rode back to the dorms. Once back, Uma brought Violet and Isla to Dr. Hazel’s lab to pick up equipment

After Uma dropped Isla and Violet off, she brought Cynthia and Matthew to Argyle Lagoon to try and find clams. Uma, Cynthia, and Matthew spent an hour wading through the water, finding two Manila clams to complete Cynthia’s organism collection! She added them back into the aquarium in the little lab, completing the work she needed to do today!

At one, we all gathered at the Art room and had an interesting talk with Magali Cota. After this, we had a poster workshop with Adam and Ethan, where we looked through different posters from different years and listed their pros and cons.

That’s it for now. Stay in tune for the next few days as students finalize projects! See you tomorrow!

Blog Credits: Aoife, Violet

The start of our last week on the Salish Sea began much earlier than normal. Spirits were rather low throughout breakfast–which was at 6:00 am–as everyone had to switch gears from a fun day out at Orcas to (surprise surprise) science!! Despite this, sacrificing a few hours of sleep in order to catch the low tide was worth it, as most students were able to collect organisms and/or begin the data collection phase of their projects.

We regrouped around 12:00 back at the dorms where some people continued to work in the lab, and others worked on getting back the hours they lost this morning with a mid-day nap. An hour later, we headed into the art room to meet with Augie Kalytiak-Davis, a PhD student at Oregon State University who studies sea stars at the Friday Harbor Labs. He instructed us on how to properly incorporate statistics into our research projects. He also introduced us to the program “R” which is a tool commonly used by marine scientists.

After our chat with Augie, project time resumed and we once again went off on our individual pursuits. Some people spent time with their organisms, and others resumed the hunt for specimens.

After a fulfilling day of project time, we are excited to welcome Will Ballentine for dinner. He is co-teaching the invertebrate zoology class at Friday Harbor Labs this summer!

Written by: Eva, Sam, Owen, and Addie

It was an early morning, but spirits were high anyway since it was Orcas Day! Even better, it was our dear Violet’s Sweet Sixteen — we all sang many times to celebrate! We packed our bags and headed to catch the 8:15 ferry, which, after a delay, turned into the 8:30 ferry.

On the ferry, there were many activities to partake in. Some napped, some puzzled, but everyone enjoyed the view… except for those who were asleep.

We got off the ferry and took a scenic drive to our nature walk. The weather was a little down, but Addie has some magic in her veins. She was able to spell the sky into shining, shimmering, sparkling, sunny view.

We embarked on a hike down a glamorous nature trail lead by Ani at the Coho reserve. On this cute little trail, we stopped every once in a while to learn about the diverse environment that is very unique to Orcas Island.

Our next stop was Mt. Constitution, where we ate lunch and enjoyed the amazing view from the top of the mountain. We were even able to go up the Fire Lookout, where the best views were found.

Next, the best part, the star of the show, lake time! We swam in Cascade Lake in Moran State Park which was very warm and fun!

Unfortunately, we got out of the water and rushed to the Ferry to make sure we could get on. It was all worth it, because we got the last spots to Friday Harbor. We just needed some more of Addie’s magic. The ride back was surprisingly less sleepy than the way there, though there were still naps being taken.

We ended the night with pizza and cake for Violet’s birthday!

Written by: Una, Kate, Gabe, Addy

We began our day at 8:45 as we left for Jackson beach. We met up with Elaina Thompson and Rick Winings the Executive and Deputy director of IOSA (Islands’ Oil Spill Association). They are a small team and work to certify volunteers year round as well as respond to oil spills on Island, they gave us some excellent insights into how they set up and clean oil spill sites.

After finishing up with IOSA we ate lunch at Jackson Beach and wandered about as some students began collecting data and specimens for their projects!

We returned to the dorms then walked down to the Friday Harbor Marina to meet up with the SoundWatch team, a group who goes out everyday to collect data on boat interactions with whales! They gave us some interesting presentations on the tools they use and the data they collect.

We returned to the dorms with a little bit of time to work on our projects. We are excited tonight to welcome multiple guests! 3 Alumni of Salish Sea Sciences’ programs: Ella Cohen, Flora Vaught, and Mika Salomon.